Shares of Apple and semiconductor stocks slid on Friday after President Donald Trump said U.S. companies should “immediately start looking for an alternative” to their operations in China.
Shares of Apple ended the day down 4.6%, while the VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF declined 4.1%. Among the chip companies, Qualcomm slid 4.7%, Nvidia lost 5.2%, Advanced Micro Devices dropped 7.4%, Micron fell roughly 4% and Broadcom slid 5.3%.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq was off 2.6%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 2.3% and the S&P 500 fell 2.5%.
Trump’s comments on Friday mark the latest fallout in the trade war between the U.S. and China.
….better off without them. The vast amounts of money made and stolen by China from the United States, year after year, for decades, will and must STOP. Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2019
Trump’s tweet came after China on Friday pledged to levy tariffs on $75 billion more of U.S. goods, including autos.
MacDailyNews Note: Late last night, President Trump referenced the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) in a followup tweet:
For all of the Fake News Reporters that don’t have a clue as to what the law is relative to Presidential powers, China, etc., try looking at the Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977. Case closed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 24, 2019
Thoughtful commentary on this issue is welcomed below. Please keep the discussion civil and on-topic. Off-topic posts and ad hominem attacks will be deleted and those who post such comments will be moderated/blocked. Permanent loss of screen name could also result.
For a President that has been strongly against government regulation, his order for US companies to move manufacturing out of China and back into the US is extremely contradictory.
You finally noticed he was incompetent and a liar?
I’m not a trump supporter but he’s right in saying that China should’ve been read the riot act a long time ago especially about stealing IP
#MAGA!
When the Trump website stops selling junk made in China, then the lying hypocrite tweetaholic might garner some respect from me. Until then, I have to watch my farming community brace itself for seriously bad times as Trump makes it up to drive the news cycle. He doesn’t have any clue the impact of his actions. It would appear MAGA hat wearing Goeb doesn’t either.
Your hero is driving the world economic bus off a cliff. You may think it’s really cool that the US will end up on the top of the wreckage, but the sane people in the room would much rather the bus stayed on the road.
Someone else mentioned how Harding, the last genius businessman president, signed the Smoots-Hawley tariffs into law, then assured everyone that the temporary pain would be worth it as the US unilaterally shut off trade. Care to tell us all what happened then Goeb? What makes this rerun different? Factories didn’t spring up in the US. It took decades to claw out of that recession. When jobs dry up, IAssure you that overpriced phones and Apple media subscriptions will be some of the first things wise Americans will axe from their budgets.
Trump the self proclaimed deal maker should have had dozens of trade agreements approved by Congress before tangling with China. Instead he has soured relationships with every reliable trading partner the US had.
Acting tough is not going to get anything good done. It will destroy the economy for years. If you want to stop Chinese IP theft, how about increasing trade with those who don’t steal?????
You will need to let in a few million more mexicans to do the mind-numbing, crap job of putting iPhones together because no American will do it. Idiot Trump fails to see that it’s Apple who is winning over China, realizing way more profit from using the Chinese.
The real emergency here is the destruction of the American system of checks and balances. The antiquated, non population representative, senate of Mitch McConnell has used gerrymandering and manipulation of the Supreme court, to solidify the control of the many over the few. The lunatic Trump is under Mitch McConnell’s thumb anyway. The decent into chaos is desired, to increase the states of emergency, to justify the assumption of even more “emergency” powers and the eventual replacement of the gateway of Trump with iron Mike.
Checks and balances, my ass.
I have to thank all you anti Trump turds. Americans are sick and tired of your liberal stupidity to the point that you have guaranteed a Trump win in 2020. LOLOLOL! Thanks!
Mr Dd you do not speak for all Americans, only an orange faced obese malignant narcissist would say, much less believe, such a thing.
Well, if you like “trump turds” that is your choice. Myself I don’t gobble down turds.
Even you deserve a better president, Dd.
Candidate Trump or President Trump? 20 notable things about the Con Man in Chief
1. Egomaniac claims to have unilateral powers over war, taxes, immigration, environmental law, etc – literally stated he thinks the Constitution grants him “the right to do whatever I want”. Jokes about doing several things that clearly violate the Constitution, from restricting First Amendment rights on those who don’t worship him, the Chosen One, to flaunting emoluments. Decides that children born to US troops serving overseas cannot be US citizens.
2. Claims he will work across the aisle while daily mudslinging highly partisan opinions
3. Criticizes prior presidents of using executive orders and golfing while doing them both more
4. Promised superior healthcare and infrastructure investment bills, but did neither. Actually passed only 2 (count ’em, two) bills of any significance — one of them a disastrously timed corporate tax giveaway that has effectively blown up federal budget deficits for the foreseeable future.
5. Claims he picks the best people but has had several advisors jailed for corruption and presides over the highest turnover rate of any recent administration. All former staffers have horror stories. Avoided prosecution only by staffers resisting his direct orders to impede DOJ investigations.
6. Claims to be the world’s greatest dealmaker but hasn’t been able to seal any international agreement in trade or in peacemaking. NK now shooting off missiles weekly.
7. Offers praise for no foreign leaders except strongman dictators
8. Refuses to appoint permanent heads of executive departments because he cannot even get his own party in the senate to agree with his choices. Congress prefers to maintain some level of competency, but Trump’s only requirement is personal loyalty. Pushed through a rather poor SCJ nominee not because he was the best conservative or constitutional scholar, but because he was a highly political candidate who would win political points against the hapless democrats.
9. Claims to love capitalism but provides taxpayer funded social welfare to farmers impacted by rash unilateralist trade policy. Thinks about his personal stress level more than the world economy: “So, I am doing this whether it’s good or bad for your — your statement about, ‘Oh, will we fall into a recession for two months?’ OK? The fact is, somebody had to take China on,” Trump continued. “My life would be a lot easier if I didn’t take China on.” Never mind that almost all business groups tell him he’s going about it all wrong.
10. Claims his economy is stronger than his predecessor when most data clearly shows otherwise. Has done nothing to shore up emerging landmines like nonbank lending companies, cryptocurrency fraud, and other foreseeable economic disasters
11. Blames his own financial advisor for economic softness only hours after bragging about the surging economy, claiming that interest rates are too high — then complains about trading foes attempting to manipulate the value of their currency.
12. Retains press advisors and spokespersons who routinely dismiss objective facts in order to sell an easily proven false narrative. Shortly after the White House spokesperson exits the revolving door to land at Fox News, Trump reads a story that doesn’t flatter him and bemoans “Fox is not working for us anymore!”
13. Holds populist rallies where a billionaire whoops up the chants while magically avoiding to tell the crowds that for decades, while working class wage increases barely kept up with cost of living, “coastal elites” like Trump have pocketed almost all financial gains. Then Trump & McConnell delivered a massive tax cut to those elites, tossing a pittance of a tax bone to wage earners.
14. Claims there is a a trade imbalance and that is a problem — but makes it worse by choosing to incentivize only highly polluting automated industries versus emerging high-income industries. Resists science and technology at every turn.
15. Claims he will balance the budget and pay down the debt — but is currently running larger budget deficit than any prior president ever, thanks to a weakening economy, substantially increased spending, and a cratering of tax revenue.
16. Claims to hack away at bad inefficient regulation, while finding that industry groups are almost entirely against his proposals. No legitimate business wants their industry undermined by irresponsible dirty players.
17. In the wake of grossly mismanaged emergency operations, claims he is “the best thing that’s ever happened to Puerto Rico”. Had to be reminded that Puerto Ricans are US citizens.
18. Claimed that the stock market was a key indicator that Trump policies were superior to any prior administration. However, has consistently underperformed the S&P500 return of the prior administration that he routinely attacked: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-white-house-probably-wont-be-tweeting-this-trump-vs-obama-chart-2018-11-12 . Canadian economy, meanwhile, is outgrowing the Trump economy. Trump complains that US companies are “badly run and weak”.
19. Claims to work hard but arrives in office late and spends more time on TV, twitter, and golf than any prior president. Has so much time on his hands that he can afford to waste time with online spats on anyone he dislikes, from Bezos to Covfefe to O’Donnell. #thinskin
20. Finally, Teflon Don continually flaunts the Christian values that his core supporters “forgive him”. Not a single commandment has gone unbroken repeatedly. Such flagrant hypocrisy undermines the integrity of the US in all its dealings.
BONUS: Has done literally nothing to enhance the US election system (or the supposedly left-leaning social media cabal) against foreign influence and hacking, despite claiming that it occurred during prior election cycles, including the race in which he prevailed.
This is just a short list of the unpresidential material you routinely come here to lionize. Are you seriously claiming that America can’t find a better president????
And meanwhile, spineless republicans and democrats do nothing. Because none of them have the balls to stand up to the dictator-in-command. It’s absurd.
I am curious. Why is it that MacDaily news gleefully and often quite humorously, attacks AAPL’s analysts, rival businesses and critics, but gives this yahoo a pass? I think your right wing is showing.
MacDailyNews, Tim Cook, and Donald Trump are all in agreement, as is anyone not suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, that the current state of U.S.-China trade is unfair and unbalanced.
I’m cognizant that in both the U.S. and China, there have been cases where everyone hasn’t benefited, where the benefit hasn’t been balanced. My belief is that one plus one equals three. The pie gets larger, working together. — Apple CEO Tim Cook, March 24, 2018
The United States could have altered China’s trading behaviour if they had forged a coalition with their traditional allies. Instead, Trump decided to take on China on his own and said trade wars are “…easy to win”. Compounding the mess he is now in he has consistently insulted his allies, cosied up to dictators and upturned the international trading and alliance system.
Has the president learned anything from this? Nope, not a thing. He’s now backed himself into a corner and is faced with two options:
Make a humiliating backdown to Xi and China so he can be re-elected or,
Drag the world into a recession that could and should have been avoided.
If he goes for option one then I hope the American people see him for what he is; an narcissistic and intellectual lightweight with the attention span of a gnat (and my apologies to all the gnats out there in the insect world).
If scenario two unfolds then in true Trumpian fashion he’ll blame everyone else because he always takes responsibility for everything positive and blames everyone else for his mistakes and political and moral errors of judgement.